It's been a challenging time for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and for the professionals working in this space.

In the US, backlash and polarization has resulted in several well know organizations reducing or eliminating their DEI teams and programs. The Society of Human Resources Management recently made the decision to "rebrand" DEI despite the loud outcry from their members. Those who feel the most passionate about this work are now exploring avenues like consulting and public speaking after years of working in resource deprived corporate environments.

Regardless of how you feel about DEI, it's clear that something isn't working. However that doesn't change the fact that we all have bias, our biases can negatively impact our place of work (culturally, legally, financially, etc.), and the only way to address that is to talk about it.

This is a delicate and often controversial subject, one we wanted to look at from outside the American lens, which has resulted in what might be one of our most 'unfiltered' conversations to date.

Our guest this week is Heeral Gudka, an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion consultant in the UK who's been working with organizations since 2014.

Her 10 years of experience in EDI spans across private, public and third-sector organizations, delivering consultancy to People Teams and Executive Boards, stand-alone workshops and also curating 6 to 12 month employee learning journeys. The support she provides to senior leadership teams is an essential part of the success they have created internally in building inclusive cultures – everyone needs a safe space to talk about difficult subjects, but they also need to understand where risks lie when it comes to workforces that don't understand minimum expectations.

Heeral is a former actuary and risk professional, she is trained to coach from a trauma-informed perspective, has a diploma in counselling skills and a deep interest in philosophy and consistent thinking – the ideal blend of skills for providing this support to senior leaders.

She also wishes she could see more of the night sky, but London is her home and that just doesn't happen there!

Obvious trigger warning as we dig into some sticky conversations around trauma and identity that may be upsetting to some listeners. However, we hope our listeners will walk away with a new perspective and inspiration to be the change they want to see in their workplace.

Is DEI 'business critical'? We'll let you decide.

Resources from this episode:

To get in touch with Heeral about EDI or dark sky recommendations you can find her on LinkedIn.

Changes Coming Soon to Offline & Unfiltered!

Dear listeners, we have had so much fun bringing you unfiltered conversations and finding our home in the podcast ecosystem. We have learned so much and are committed to bringing you the best quality content. In 2025, you'll see some refinement to our format, sustained activity on the socials, and much more. To achieve these goals, we're slowing down a bit. Through the end of 2024 O&L will release one episode a month, rather than two. Don't worry, we'll be back to two episodes per month in 2025.

Thank you for your continued support. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, give us 5 stars, tell all your friends, and all that good stuff.

More to come.